Plavins (facing) and Tocs are looking ahead to the Dela Beach Open gold medal

The Hague, Netherlands, January 7, 2018 – Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs remain on course for a first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold after they won their Dela Beach Open semifinal on Sunday.

The Latvians beat Dutch pair Christiaan Varenhorst and Jasper Bouter 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-11) to set up a clash against Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak at the indoor arena at Sportcampus Zuiderpark later on Sunday.

“We were happy when we saw the main draw list and we were last,” Plavins said. “We had the chance to earn a lot of points here, so we were really happy to start the tournament as high as possible and we didn’t expect this.”

Kantor Losiak defeated local favourites Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen 2-0 (21-14, 24-22) to reach their first gold medal match since they won silver at the Gstaad 5-Star tournament in July 2017.

“It is always tough to play against a local team,” Losiak said. “I remember that we lost to them in the (Austria 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball) World Championships and the European Championships, but now it is a new year and we’ve won our semifinal to reach the final and it is a good start to the new year.”